Criminalization of protests in Slovenia: from "all-Slovenian uprisings" to protests during the Covid-19 pandemic

Namen diplomskega dela je iz sociološke perspektive analizirati problematiko kriminalizacije protestov v Sloveniji in represijo nad protestniki. Zanima me, ali so bile kršene oziroma na kakšen način so bile kršene temeljne pravice, zlasti pravica do svobodnega izražanja in pravica do zbiranja. Pri tem se sprašujem, ali je kršenje le-teh povečalo nadzor nad državljani, ali se je naša država s krepitvijo policijske prisotnosti spreminjala v policijsko državo in kaj to pomeni za demokracijo v družbi. Prav tako me zanima katere vzporednice lahko odkrijemo s primerjavo ‘vseslovenskih vstaj’ leta 2012 in 2013 ter protesti v času pandemije Covid-19 leta 2020 in 2021. Intervjuje sem v empiričnem delu naloge opravila z desetimi posamezniki, ki so bili priča represiji na primeru protestniških vstaj v letih 2012/2013 in 2020/2021.The purpose of the thesis is to analyse the problem of criminalization of protests in Slovenia from a sociological perspective, with an emphasis on the protests that took place in 2012 and 2013 in Slovenia and the repression that the then-government exercised over the protesters. I wonder if and in what way fundamental rights were violated, in particular the right to freedom of expression and the right to assembly. In doing so, I question whether violating them has increased control over citizens and whether our country is - by strengthening police presence - gradually becoming a police state. I am also interested in what parallels I can discover by comparing ‘all-Slovenian uprisings’ in 2012 and 2013 and the protests in the time of Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021. In the empirical part of my thesis, I interviewed ten individuals who witnessed the repression in the case of protest in 2012/2013 and 2020/2021